Parental
Responsibility
Presented by: Mahgoub Hamid
Introduction
Table of Contents
01. Who is the child’s
mother? 02. Who is the child’s
father?
03. 04.
What are the Are all parental
responsibilities? responsibilities
equal?
01.
Who is the
child’s mother?
For legal purposes, the mother of a
child is the woman who gives birth to
the child.
This is so even where there is assisted
reproduction and the woman who
carries and gives birth to the child is
not genetically related to the child.
Section 33(1) of the Human Fertilisation and
Embryology Act 2008 (hereafter HFEA 2008)
states:
The woman who is carrying or has carried a
child as a result of the placing in her of an
embryo or of sperm and eggs, and no other
woman, is to be treated as the mother of the
child.
02.
Who is the
child’s father?
The law on fatherhood is much more complex.
A man who wishes to prove that he is the father of a child
must show:
• That he is genetically the father of the child;
• That one of the legal presumptions of paternity applies
and has not been rebutted;
• That he is a father by virtue of one of the statutory
provisions governing assisted reproduction;
• That an adoption order or parental order has been
made in his favor.
03.
What are the
responsibilities?
Given that parental responsibility is one of the key
concepts in family law, one might have thought it
would be easy to define it, but it is not.
The root cause of the uncertainty is that the notion of
parental responsibility is required to fulfill a wide
variety of functions.
Eekelaar has suggested a definition of parental
responsibility:
It encapsulates the legal duties and powers that
enable a parent to care for a child or act on the
child’s behalf. Parents must exercise their rights
‘dutifully’ towards their children.
In an attempt to explain further what parental
responsibility means, we need to look at the
legislative and judicial understanding of parental
responsibility:
(i) The Children Act
Children Act 1989, section 3
In this Act ‘parental responsibility’ means all the rights,
duties, powers, responsibilities, and authority which by
law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his
property.
This text fails to clarify what those rights are etc. Because
it also changes from one case to another and depends on
the child’s age and maturity.
In any case, it will not be possible to list all the responsibilities associated
with parental responsibility. Rob George suggested the following:
● Naming the child; ● Consenting to the taking of blood for
testing;
● Providing a home for the child;
● Allowing the child to be interviewed;
● Bringing up the child; ● Representing the child in legal
proceedings;
● Having contact with the child;
● Appointing a guardian for the child;
● Protecting and maintaining the child;
● Disposing of the child’s corpse.
● Administering the child’s property;
● Consenting to the child’s marriage;
● Taking the child outside the jurisdiction ● Agreeing to the child’s change of
of the United Kingdom and consenting to surname;
emigration;
● Consenting to the child’s medical
● Disciplining the child and sometimes treatment;
taking responsibility for harm caused by
the child; ● Arranging the child’s education;
● Agreeing to or vetoing the issue of the ● Determining the child’s religious
child’s passport; upbringing;
● Agreeing to the child’s adoption;
No doubt this is not a complete list,
but it gives an indication of the
range of issues for which parents
may be responsible.
ii) Judicial understanding of parental responsibility
Unfortunately, the courts have not been consistent in their
understanding of parental responsibility. Some cases have
described parental responsibility as a ‘stamp of approval’ to
mark the ‘status’ which nature has bestowed on the father.
In A Local Authority v A, B, and E a father who had been imprisoned for
serious offenses was allowed to retain parental responsibility in order to
acknowledge his parental status, even though there were severe limitations
on how it could be used.
In Re G (Parental Responsibility Order), where the father had no existing
relationship with the child born as a result of a ‘one-night stand’, the judge
granted him a ‘suspended parental responsibility’ which would come into
effect if the mother failed to provide him with information about the child’s
health and education.
On appeal, the Court of Appeal held that such a ‘suspended parental
responsibility’ was not possible under the Children Act 1989; the judge
would have to decide either to give or not to give parental responsibility.
Are all parental responsibilities equal?
It seems clear from s 2(7) of the Children Act 1989 that each parent with
parental responsibility is equal.
However, in Re P (A Minor) (Parental Responsibility Order) the courts
have suggested that the parent with whom the child lives is to have the power
to decide ‘day-to-day’ issues relating to the child. So the non-residential
parent cannot use his or her parental responsibility to upset the day-to-day
parenting of the residential parent
Resources
● Family Law, Jonathan Herring, 8th
Edition.
● The Family and The Law, Sarah T.
Knox
● Human Fertilization and Embryology
Act 2008
● Children Act 1989
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